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Sunday, 12 June 2016

At 50, Nnubia Reveals His Role In Colourists '80s

By Tajudeen
Sowole

FIVE
decades old, 28 years post-training career, Gerry Nnubia, who is one of the
artists known as ‘Colourists’ in the 1980s undertakes self-appraisal and discovers
that he has outlined the current state of his art right from the time he began
art practice, professionally.

The Monarch by Gerry Nnubia

As part of activities marking his 50th
birthday, he reconstructs the walls of art gallery and shares his art’s trajectory.

For
about three weeks, at Terra Kulture Gallery, Victoria Island, Lagos, the artist
has been showing Gerry Nnubia @ 50; A Retrospective Exhibition of Remarkable
Paintings that reflect his character of "creating and not
representing."

An artist with core level of abstraction on
canvas, Nnubia, over the past two decades of his career had mapped out,
consciously, the current shape of his art. He has a radicalised process of
creating forms, in a sharp deviation from the norms. Among the results of his
experimentation is his current period coined Acrylic Flow - a process
that eliminates building contents on foundation of forms.

For the first time, in 2012, Nnubia showed
the style and technique in a solo exhibition titled Unlicensed at Omenka
Gallery, Victoria Island.

Four years after, the concept has been
elevated to a state of spirituality, so suggests the artist's expanded
adventure in acrylic flow.

His philosophy of art, which draws line
between creating and representing idea would always attract attention in any
encounter with the painter.

Rendition or communication of idea in
whatever forms is basically representing something, isn't it? Every work of
art, he argues, "is spiritual and philosophical." Nature, he
explains, has given "every artist space to expand; take the opportunity
and add creativity to it," stressing that "recreation on the blank
space provided by nature has been the bedrock of my practice."

For an artist who has put into studio practice
as much as 28 years, showing 32 pieces of paintings in a retrospection would
mean that the bulk of the exhibits come from collectors who part with the works
on loan agreement. But Nnubia is a different kind of artist; most of the
retrospection pieces, he discloses, are from his private collection.

Indeed, over two and half decades in practice
is quite a long space for an artist to use the period of his 50th for a
retrospection. However, Nnubia's modesty and humility on the Lagos art space seemed
to have blurred his spot in the history of contemporary Nigerian art. For
example, perhaps quite a number of art followers did not know that Nnubia was
among the popular 'Colourists’ artists of the 1980s whose exploits added
glitter and glamour to the Nigerian art landscape.

Rage II by Gerry Nnbia

Revisiting the Colourists era, Nnubia underscores
how the liberalist ideology of Institute of Management and Technology (IMT),
Enugu where he had his training played a vital role in his career later as a
teacher at Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State. "I brought my IMT freedom into
Auchi, which gave me the strength I have now." He notes further, "I
am the brain behind everyone's rebellious way towards the contemporary
period."

There was no doubt that his Colourists
colleagues such as Sam Ovraiti, Olu Ajayi, Toni Okujeni and Pita Ohiwerei,
among others led a fresh path for new generation of Nigerian artists over 25
years ago. But in the current face of contemporaneity, how relevant are the
canvas and signatures of the Colourists? "Very relevant," Nnubia
responds sharply. "You can't really express much without brilliant colours,"
he argues, adding that till date "a lot of my works still come with
brilliant colours."

Beyond the Nigerian space, Nnubia appears to
have won the hearts of some collectors outside the country. "Surprisingly,
my work is appreciated more outside Nigeria," he discloses and attributes
the international attraction for his work to, perhaps, freedom "not to
paint in a particular way people expect."

Looking ahead into the next 28 years of his
career, Nnubia hopes to continue proving that African or Nigerian art should
not always be about commercial value."

He would not for any reason deny his African
origin or expression on canvas, but warns: "I am an African artist with
universal view." And being "born and bred" in eastern part of
Nigeria, he says, gave him opportunity of being close to nature. By extension,
he has also imbibed "environmental activism."

Curator of Gerry Nnubia @ 50..., Luciano
Uzuegbu states that the exhibition "is not just about the artist's past,
but his recent as well."On sorting
works for the exhibition, he agreed with Nnubia how it was made easier
"because Gerry is an artist who enjoys collecting his works."

BORN in 1966
in Enugu, east of Nigeria, Nnubia

studied
Visual art at the Institute of Management Technology (IMT) Enugu, where he was
not only taught the fundamentals, but how to improvise in communication. This
laid the foundation for what would become the hallmark of his art–the tendency
to deviate.

Nnubia is a member of The Society of Nigerian
Artists (SNA) and currently the Social Director of the esteemed Guild of
Professional Fine Artists of Nigeria (GFA).